This invention relates generally to gas turbine engines, more particularly to methods and apparatus for assembling gas turbine engines.
At least some known gas turbine engines include, in serial flow arrangement, a fan assembly and a high pressure compressor which compress airflow entering the engine, a combustor which burns a mixture of fuel and air, and low and high pressure rotary assemblies which each include a plurality of rotor blades that extract rotational energy from airflow exiting the combustor. The fan assembly includes a plurality of circumferentially-spaced fan blades that extend radially outwardly from an annular fan disk. A spinner is coupled to a front end of the fan assembly to facilitate providing smooth airflow into the fan assembly.
Known spinners are coupled directly to the disk by a plurality of circumferentially-spaced threaded studs. The studs are axially and radially secured to the disk prior to the spinner being coupled to the fan assembly. Additionally, securing the studs to the disk prevents the studs from rotating such that nuts used to couple the spinner to the disk can be tightened. To secure known studs to the disk, initially each stud is riveted to a wingbolt member. The wingbolt member is then riveted to the disk.
Coupling the spinner to the disk may be a time-consuming process, as the riveting and drilling processes must each be precise to prevent inadvertent damage to the disk. Specifically, each wingbolt member requires three holes to be formed in the fan disk, wherein two of the holes are countersunk and are drilled into the fan disk for each set of rivets used to couple the wingbolt members to the disk, and one of the openings is drilled into the fan disk to receive the threaded stud therethrough. As a result, the assembly process may be time-consuming and